The Flying Experience-How to make People Want to Fly !!!

[ChairPrefRes]

Aside from all the problems that have been discussed about revenue and cost''s is the fact that Pax are choosing not to fly for various reasons...I believe an effort should be made from FA input and even ATO staff about ways to make the Flying experience better for the Pax...That way the word of mouth expience of happy PAX (which actually is our best and least expensive marketing) will drive up demand...
One of the most fun flights I was ever on was when one of the budget airlines I took from ORF to MCO did a contest to give a away free stuff...They got the Pax involved and most really enjoyed the flight even though our knees were in our face...(tight seating) Many Ideas from FA''s could be solicited to implement raffles or games on board...(I know it''s more work but they actually might have fun themselves with this and not make the trips so mundane...Food is an area where airlines are cutting back but U is not SWA and needs to distingush itself from OA...Food costs are a problem but one of the things you look forward to is that cart roling down the aile with a meal...Once again FA input should be considered...Bring back the flying experience and you''ll bring back the pax...Ideas!!!

 

[UAL777flyer]

You want to bring more passengers back on airplanes and make their travel experience a little happier? Find ways to reduce the hassle factor in the airports. This dog and pony show at the security checkpoints is beyond ridiculous. The TSA is a complete joke and is exactly what happens when politicians and not industry people dictate airline industry policy. Unfortunately, due to all airlines significantly cutting costs, much of that translates into items that directly affect the experience of the passenger when he/she travels.

My opinion is that passengers aren't so unhappy with flying; they're unhappy with what happens BEFORE they get on the airplane. That is what drastically needs improvement. But wait. It'll get even better at year's end when airlines must adopt the mandatory positive bag matching. That will prove to be a total fiasco because the CTX machines are slower than cold molasses in December. I'm all for security improvements, but only if they're effective. These window-dressing solutions may appear to be an answer, but we all know they're not.

 

[KCFlyer]

What would make a passenger happier? How about not charging them $100 plus another $800 to get into the last minute fare bucket because your kid was vomiting all over himself the day you were supposed to leave? I'd make the parents happy not to lose their money, and it would make the other passengers happy not to have to fly next to a puking kid whose folks weren't going give up the extra money.

 

[whatkindoffreshhell]

Great topic for a thread sir. Let's see how far it goes...

The idea of in-flight games is novel. However, I suspect that if your airline becomes known as the games airline you'll drive off certain pax (i.e. businessmen, families) who book for passage, not commotion. Plus the sky marshals probably wouldn't be too thrilled.

Which leads to another thought which I believe many posters here are completely missing: web-conferencing. I'm talking about Webex or Placeware, stuff that lets businessfolk conduct meetings without travel. Web conferences are not expensive or complicated and I wonder if the airlines have any idea how much (billions) they've lost to web conferences? For one thing, web-conference people don't have to deal with security hassles and airport delays.

Back to the thread topic: does anyone have any idea how much revenue jetblue gains because people like the idea of satellite TV at their seat? Why aren't more carriers doing this? Seems to me the cost would be marginal, no added labor cost either and the pax seem to love it!

 

[TomBascom]

[blockquote]
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On 10/29/2002 11:39:37 AM KCFlyer wrote:
What would make a passenger happier? How about not charging them $100 plus another $800 to get into the "last minute" fare bucket because your kid was vomiting all over himself the day you were supposed to leave? I'd make the parents happy not to lose their money, and it would make the other passengers happy not to have to fly next to a puking kid whose folks weren't going give up the extra money.
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[/blockquote]

Only $800 ??? The last time this happened to me they wanted $1,300... Obviously we flew sick.

 

[W:EXCH:INVOL]

This fare thing is a dead horse, guys. I'm 100% with both of you, as are probably most others here. But I think CHPres was maybe looking for NEW ideas. Let's face it, unless there's somebody a lot higher up than us on here, your fare suggestions are falling on the ears of people who can't do anything about it (but don't think we don't want to!)

INVOL

 

[trvlr64]

One simple and QUICK solution is to copy what UNITED already does......headsets in every seat and you can either watch the video monitors or listen to music. I did both, on my PIT - ORD (watched Fraiser) and then listened to music on the ORD - DFW flight.

Does it cost the airline extra to play the music channels? Or even show the videos? This would greatly help keep the PAX occupied and happy.

So how about it DAVE? I have heard from many co-wrokers that have to us UA as their primary airline and they love this little perk. ANd since US is going to be UA someday, why not implement that now? Or do you have to be an air marshall to be allowed to have US headphones and listen music??